The Study of Human Nature: A Reader - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0195127153 ISBN 13: 9780195127157

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2000

Synopsis

Now in a new edition, this exceptional anthology provides an introduction to a wide variety of views on human nature. Drawing from diverse cultures over three millennia, Leslie Stevenson has chosen selections ranging from ancient religious texts to contemporary theories based on evolutionary science. An ideal companion to the editor's recent book, Ten Theories of Human Nature, 3/e (OUP, 1998), this interdisciplinary reader can also be used independently.
The Study of Human Nature, 2/e offers substantial selections illustrating the ten perspectives discussed in Ten Theories of Human Nature, 4/e--The Bible, Hinduism, Confucianism, Plato, Kant, Marx, Freud, Sartre, B.F. Skinner's behaviorism, and Konrad Lorenz's ethological diagnosis of human aggression. The Islamic tradition is represented by a selection from the 20th-century Iranian philosopher Ayatullah Murtaza Mutahhari. The 17th- and 18th-century philosophers Descartes, Hobbes, Hume, Rousseau, and Kant are also represented. Selections from Rousseau, J.S. Mill, and Nancy Holmstrom discuss alleged differences between women and men, and a paper by Henry Bracken deals with racial issues. Examples from E.O. Wilson's sociobiology and his critics are also included, together with material from Chomsky and from recent evolutionary psychology.
This new edition includes more substantial selections from the Hindu, Confucian, and Christian traditions and provides more accessible extracts from Marx, Sartre, and Lorenz. An excellent reader for introductory courses in philosophy, religious studies, human nature, and intellectual history, The Study of Human Nature, 2/e, is also an essential resource for anyone interested in ancient, modern, and contemporary perspectives on human nature.

About this title

About the Author:

Leslie Stevenson is at University of St. Andrews.

Review:

"A superbly well chosen variety of human definitions, equipping readers in the relevant dimensions of psychology, anthropology, sociology, metaphysics, and religion."--George E. LaMore, Jr., Iowa Wesleyan College

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0195127153
• ISBN 13: 9780195127157
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 336
• Editor: Stevenson Leslie